Prep football: What's going on in the NIC-10 this season?

Maurice Jackson still prefers “halfback,” a term that fell out of football favor more than a generation ago. “Some of us still call it a halfback. It makes sense; it’s halfway between a fullback and a quarterback,” Jackson said. “But some people don’t know what a halfback...

Maurice Jackson still prefers “halfback,” a term that fell out of football favor more than a generation ago.

“Some of us still call it a halfback. It makes sense; it’s halfway between a fullback and a quarterback,” Jackson said. “But some people don’t know what a halfback is, so they put the term running in it. Oh, he’s the one who runs all the time.”

Not any more. At least not in the NIC-10.

The league’s best running backs now do a little of everything. Boylan held Freeport junior star Steve McShane to 46 yards on 19 carries last week, but McShane returned two kickoffs for touchdowns.

Jackson was even more versatile; the Belvidere senior ran for 134 yards against Harlem last week, caught five passes for 122 yards when he lined up as a receiver and even threw a 4-yard touchdown pass.

“He’s pretty special,” Harlem coach Jim Morrow said. “And Belvidere didn’t just hand the ball off to him. They moved him to wide receiver. They lined him up in the flat. He killed us with his all-purpose yardage.”

That’s the new way to use a running back in the NIC-10.

“For years, if you had a running back, you gave him the ball between the tackles,” Belvidere coach Chuck Leonard said. “If you had speed, every once in awhile they’d pitch it out to you and let you try to run wide with it.

“But the game has changed. It’s about getting your best athletes in space and positions where they can make plays. That has let us showcase what Mo can do.”

It also lets teams showcase what their quarterback can do. Before last week, Auburn’s Christian Lopez led the NIC-10 in rushing.

“It was pretty weird, but if that’s how it is, that’s nice. I just have to do my job and help my team win,” said Lopez, who shares quarterbacking duties with Marc Trautmann and is now third in rushing behind Hononegah’s Alex Martin and Jackson.

Lopez ran 96 yards for a touchdown on his first play against Boylan when the Titans expected him to hand it off to a running back. You know, the guys who by definition are supposed to be the runners.

“With the spread offense, there are a lot of different places to run,” Lopez said. “It gets you in space. And having a lot of big runs sends the defense a message and opens things up for other people.”

“We’re looking to develop a quarterback who is a dual threat every year,” Freeport coach Aaron Wichman said. “When teams key on Steve (McShane), Quaveon is capable of pulling it down and making something happen as well.”

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“The spread provides misdirection,” East coach Jeremy Warren said. “You gear up to stop McShane and all of a sudden Meeks pulls it and is gone. It makes it very difficult to defend.”

Just ask the defenders.

“We get a little confused on how or what position they run,” Auburn linebacker Quan Herron said, “but our coaches put us in the best position at the right time to stop them.”

That’s somewhat easier when great running quarterbacks are not so great at passing. Lopez and Meeks are still developing as throwers. But when you have someone who runs as well as Croft and throws even better — Croft is 50-for-78 for 689 yards with eight touchdowns and one interception, stats that work out to a 122 passer rating on the NFL scale — defenses are over a barrel.

“Demry is a phenomenal athlete,” Warren said. “They get him in space and are maximizing what they have.”

Today’s most electric runners, be they quarterbacks or halfbacks, often start out in space. In the old days, they started in the most confined spaces, running between the tackles, and didn’t get into the open until they earned it by breaking through the line.

Now they start there. Whether it’s a running back, a quarterback or a running back lined up as a receiver.

Auburn coach Dan Appino, who won two state titles with the spread at Boylan, gives most of the spread revolution credit to Harlem.

“There is an evolution going on with the high school game and Harlem is at the forefront,” Appino said. “They are running a lot of spread plays similar to Texas A&M and the other really good college programs. Harlem takes their best running play and they couple it with a pass to either side. The quarterback then makes several decisions. Whether to keep it. Whether to give it. Whether to keep it and throw it.

“That keeps defenses on their toes.”

The spread made passing in vogue in the NIC-10. Five of the league’s nine greatest passing seasons have come in the last three years.

But somehow, running backs still piled up historic numbers. Ten of the league’s 14 highest single-season rushers have done so since 2002. Two of the three all-time leading career rushers, Belvidere North’s Austin Smaha and Boylan’s Tyreis Thomas, graduated just two years ago. Josh Woodford and Garett Perry broke Jefferson’s rushing records the last two years and Kevin Witcik set Harlem’s single-season and career record last year.

“If you’ve got that go-to guy,” Belvidere North coach Jeff Beck said, “you will find a way to get the ball to him. But with the spread offenses, you have to always be aware of four and five guys, not just one. The days when one guy is getting the ball 30 to 35 times a game isn’t as common at any level.”

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So did Tyreis Thomas, Austin Smaha and Co. make the end of the dominant runners come later? Or did they come too soon to be two- and three-way threats?

“If they were younger, would they have ended up being quarterbacks?” East’s Warren wondered.

“Imagine what they could have done faking to somebody else and then running? Oh, my gosh! That would be a nightmare! Austin Smaha or Tyreis with the ball in his hands every snap is a scary thought.”

They did just fine the old way. But so are Meeks, Jackson and Co. in the new way.

“Maybe the running numbers are down,” Freeport’s Wichman said, “but the overall numbers for those backs are still pretty good. Your athletes are still making the plays, just not in as traditional a role as in the past.”